M40 crash J3–J4 southbound

Crash on the M40 southbound at J3–J4 on Saturday 24 October 2026, from 16:00. Cleared at 17:59 after 1 h 59 min. Timeline of reports from TomTom and the motorway signs.

Status

Cleared 17:59 on 24 Oct 2026, after 1 h 59 min

Location

M40 southbound · J3–J4

Reported as

Collision

At its worst

Stationary traffic · delay ~414 min

Sources

TomTom ×2 · Motorway signs ×2

Timeline

1. Sat 16:00 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Queuing traffic”, delay ~8 min
2. Sat 16:04 TomTom: “Stationary traffic”
3. Sat 16:17 TomTom: delay now ~20 min (was ~15)
4. Sat 16:27 TomTom: delay now ~414 min (was ~24)
5. Sat 16:31 TomTom: delay now ~41 min (was ~414)
6. Sat 16:33 Motorway signs: “INCIDENT SLOW DOWN”
7. Sat 16:35 Motorway signs: “COLLISION SLOW DOWN”
8. Sat 16:36 TomTom: now says collision, “Stationary traffic, Accident”
9. Sat 17:44 TomTom: “Queuing traffic, Accident”
10. Sat 17:49 TomTom: collision, “Queuing traffic, Accident”, delay ~7 min
11. Sat 17:54 TomTom: now says queueing traffic, “Queuing traffic”
12. Sat 17:54 TomTom no longer reports it
13. Sat 17:59 Motorway signs no longer show “INCIDENT SLOW DOWN”
14. Sat 17:59 Motorway signs no longer show “COLLISION SLOW DOWN”
15. Sat 17:59 All clear: no source reports it any more

Source reports

• Queuing traffic, Accident
• Overhead signs read “INCIDENT SLOW DOWN” (7 signs; furthest along: M40 northbound between J3 and J4).
• Overhead signs read “COLLISION SLOW DOWN” (1 sign; furthest along: M40 southbound between J5 and J4).
• Queuing traffic

Other recent incidents on the M40

• M40 reported crash J11–J10 southboundSun 18:49 · cleared after 1 h 27 min
• M40 reported crash J11 northboundSun 18:10 · cleared after 1 h 5 min
• M40 crash J5–J4 southboundSun 16:07 · cleared after 3 h 9 min
• M40 reported crash J11–J10 southboundSat 13:31 · cleared after 38 min
• M40 reported crash J11 northboundFri 18:07 · cleared after 56 min
• M40 crash J5–J4 southboundFri 15:40 · cleared after 3 h 6 min
• M40 crash J11 northboundFri 14:20 · cleared after 2 h 55 min
• M40 reported crash J11 northbound27 Oct 2026 08:42 · cleared after 11 h 39 min
• M40 crash J5–J427 Oct 2026 07:44 · cleared after 1 h 19 min
• M40 stopped traffic J3–J4 northbound26 Oct 2026 17:20 · cleared after 2 h 3 min

Live traffic and past incidents at M40 J3 and M40 J4.

The sources don't report causes or injuries, so neither does this page. Times are UK time. For alerts, follow @motorways.me on Bluesky.